Common Grounds
by IYfanperson
Summary: Naruto is the Eighth Hokage. Kakashi is the Seventh. A ancient enemy has appeared and they are worried that the Uchiha have revived. What they don't realize, the Akatsuki was serving a good purpose.
1. Chapter 1

Naruto stood with unconcealed hatred next to Kakashi, both staring at the monument of honor to all ninja who were sacrificed under the grand Konoha name. The early morning was always the best time to view the monument. The Serenity accentuated the honorable stone block. Naruto had already stood watching the monument for fifteen minutes and no doubt for another fifteen before he even considered his other problems. While Kakashi had been staring at the object for nearly three hours and another three hours of meditation later, he might actually be late for another meeting with his third generation of genin, since the Rookie Nine.

The Rookie Nine were famous for being the top of the game. The only ones left of the nine were Naruto, Shikamaru, Ino, and Chouji. Each stood strong enough to compete with a Sannin at the prime of their youths and each experienced well beyond their ages of about thirty.

Chouji became an ambassador for Konoha shortly after Naruto removed the elders from their stands. His excellent choice in cuisine seemed to make many enjoy partaking diplomacy with the happy Chouji. Shikamaru became Narutos second hand man when it came down to organization in wartime. He was Naruto's Shizune, if you will. At first, Shikamaru doubted Naruto's standing as Hokage, but when he found out the genius inside of the blonde's ability to actually solve problems without thinking, he was envious.

Ino stood in as a special Jounin for missions that are still held under Special Jounin Status. It would take another twenty years and the death of at least 10 feudal lords, including Gaara of the Sand himself, before anybody outside of the Hokage's closest to know exactly what Ino has done.

"so many…" Naruto looked towards his old instructor. The happiness in his eyes still existed, because he always hoped for the best in the future, but the sadness bore down on his facial features leaving wrinkles that one wouldn't think could exist on a person with such child-like innocence. He knelt down to the ground and placed daffodils next to the ones he placed the day before which were next to the ones from the day before.

"Just repaying our debts." Kakashi thinking once more about Obito, Rei, Sasuke, and even the much more recent, Kurenai. "We just have to hope there are enough mornings to do it in."

"I certainly won't live to see it." Naruto replied, blinking away sadness and anger, and stood silent for the rest of his time at the memorial. Kakashi didn't try to break it.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Naruto watched the Kyuubi with growing interest. He had grown accustomed to the beasts sadism and it's pure evil aura. At this point, Naruto hated the Kyuubi. The only time he never hated it, was when he thought it could bring Sasuke back. It had toyed with him, promised that power would show Sasuke the way. Instead, it sent the boy, or rather the man, into mad rage at his inability, even after years of building on hate, to surpass the blonde. Sasuke forced himself to stay on Orochimaru's side, to prove that his way of life was never wrong. If he, they could kill Itachi, everything would be okay. Orochimaru, who never fully comprehended a bloodline limit, or more particularly, what became known as the Sharingan Exclusive, didn't realize the effect of trying to force his way into the boys body.

The problem was, the Sharingan wasn't like other bloodline limits. It was an Amalgamation of folded over bloodlines. The Uchiha name came from extreme mixed breading from the strongest of bloodlines. Mainly the Hyuuga and which later became known as the Nara. Though no ninja, big or small, knows it is what happened. There is no experimental way to prove the mixing of those two bloodlines according to lead Konoha geneticist, Yamanaka Ino. The cult-like behavior of early ancestors, she believed, left many having strange orgy's based off their blood line. According to her, Bloodlines only possible way of existing was through the offspring of Jinchuriki. Be it one of the legendary Nine-tailed beasts or that of a lesser demon, there was no way to tell. Her and other theories like hers, were proven wrong when Neji had a daughter.

Neji contained no Biju, and he had no known demon with in. Neji himself had went down a the same luring path Orochimaru had taken, except he was pulled out by Rock Lee in a gruesome battle leaving one dead and the other barely walking. Before Rock Lee's final showdown, Neji had captured the famed Zetsu. Using his advanced Taiketsu vision, and going off of pure theory in his ideal behind bloodlines, he had positioned Zetsu's chakra flow to follow his own. For a split moment, their two bodies ran as one, and then Neji ripped away all the demons chakra and contained the beast. He held what he believed to be the original Demon that created the Hyuuga's inside of himself. In his mind, he pictured it to be a butterfly, but in reality it barely came close to a centipede.

The beast inside of him spoke that their overlapping powers could beat even the Kyuubi at full power, he was mistaken when a rival discovered the Hyuuga's plan to eliminate Kakashi. Neji, wasn't insane, his curiosity about Zetsu and their talks before his experiment, weren't known by anybody. Neji never recorded the talks in what he considered his twin. When they aligned themselves into one body, the beast inside each took them and the ensuing insanity of any two beings fighting ensued.

Even though Chaos havocked inside Neji's minds, his genius was multiplied to unreal levels, and the only strange thing about him seemed to be that for a few months, he had won victories in the name of Konoha and the Hokage Kakashi. Shikamaru was worried and he had sent Rock Lee as a spy to see Neji's doings. Rock Lee had stumbled into writings of plans to make unknown correspondence with six countries and eventually lead them into a all out war with Konoha.

Stumbling upon such ideas, Rock Lee didn't understand what had happened to who he thought to be a noble person. Neji had just been arriving back to his lab when he sensed the Rock-nin. The battle didn't last very long, as both Neji and Rock Lee pretended to be heading outside of town as just normal friends going to a fair. Their fight ended in a familiar canyon. Rock Lee had unlocked eight gates, which Neji and his Inside kept detailed memory of, because as far as anybody was concerned, the Death Gate had never been opened. Neji refused to explain to anyone what had happened that day, but he did say it was in his records which he would release after his death. After interrogation and a private chat with Kakashi, Neji was deemed innocent of treachery. Neji immediately shed light on bloodline limits that could only come through insanity or accidents.

His daughter with Hanabi had no obvious defects of a biju. The child was just a plain Hyuuga. Neji and Hanabi both said that she would be the strongest Hyuuga to ever exist. Nobody doubts that Hinata would become strong, Neji was a Legend even under the Hyuuga microscope. His offspring should remain no different.

When Ino had finished with a thorough examination of the baby girl, she decided that her theory was no longer accurate and all likes should be discarded. She claimed another theory that the human genome created the bloodline limits by itself in order to sustain ground when all Nine Biju lived and ran the world. This theory has gained no real merit, and it is most likely inaccurate. She created it until further details came up to show her a correct thought.

-.-.-.-.-.-.--.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"They're all dead."

"There is no Uchiha left."

"Come Brothers."

"What about the Uzumaki."

"Neither Kyuubi nor the Hyuugas can stop this."

"Even the Akatsuki is gone."

"I feel sorry for them."

"Shut up Sister."

"We don't know if All Uchiha are dead, or even the leader of Akatsuki for that matter."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.--.-.--.-.-.


	2. Chapter 2

"Is this how you dreams it would be all those years ago?" Konohamaru decided to take a seat next to Naruto overlooking the large village. Both his grandfather and Naruto enjoyed standing on the Hokaage heads watching their people. Taking a bite out of his Kabob he found watching the city was something he wasn't meant for. He figured to himself, he hadn't grown old enough to be interested in just watching things just yet.

"I never imagined what it would be like without Sakura, or Ero-sennin, or even obai…" willing himself to flinch at remembering how Tsunade used to hit him for saying that. "Its not what I imagined, but I still love it." Whenever Naruto had a spare moment, he was training in one way or another. Even at the memorial he was meditating and learning to communicate with the Kyuubi. He found that overlooking the town he could pull in the most amount of Chakra, and often mixed his energy with the energy from the town and let himself flow through it.

"I suppose so.." Konohamaru chuckled, "well I guess that means you imagined it without Orochimaru then." Finishing his first kabob he pulled another one out of his knapsack and continued munching. "But then again, I think everyone thought that way."

"Not Kimimaro." Naruto thought about the bone manipulator. Gaara had told him that the man died out of love for Orochimaru. "Then again, he is not the first to die for the wrong reasons."

"Who was that?"

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.--.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Gaara's dusty red hair remained unchanged through the seasons. His compassion had kept growing and the Sand Village prospered from their relations with Konoha. With two powerhouse villages holding strong allegiance it seemed very unlikely for the world to be tossed back into the chaos from before the Third's succession. Gaara had somehow retained his sand controlling ability and it had left many puzzled. He was the next big lead in unveiling what bloodline limits actually were, but he refused to let Konoha send scientist to do tests with him. He figured in the next few years, he would allow them, but he did not want them to somehow drain his ability to control sand even if it was just his Paranoia.

He was in a hurry to get to Konoha. There were private matters to discuss with his friend. There had been reports that Black fire was in the hillsides. At first he had sent just some Chounin scouts to see what had happened. They had came back and claimed the fire would not go out. When Gaara used sand to smother the fire it didn't work, not until he compressed it with enough pressure to equal that of diamond. Tsunade had given his village many books on Jutsu and Black fire wasn't one that was listed anywhere. He had heard rumors that certain Akatsuki had controlled black fire, but he distinctly remembered that Naruto told him that they were all dead.

If even one of them escaped, it was feared that the entire group would be reborn and their plans for domination would be revived. Gaara had only a few encounters with the likes of Akatsuki. They had taken Shukaku out of him and he still felt the emptiness from it. He hoped the blackfire was something different, but he saw no other way. He had to personally deliver this message instead of letting Temari take care of things. Riding on a cloud of sand to the East towards Konoha he thought more about the black fire and the possible existence of Akatsuki.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

"Team Kakashi, I have a special mission for you." Naruto grinned through the Hokage hat that he had on at all times. "Word is in that a mysterious Black Fire appeared in hills just north of the Sand Village's Main Complex." Naruto tapped his fingers on the desk. Though Kakashi was still the sixth Hokage, he willingly took on missions simply because sitting around doing nothing wasn't for him. "I am aware of what this 'Blackfire' could mean, but I am certain the fears of Magenkyo can be put to rest."

Gaara tapped Narutos shoulder and whispered something in his ear. "Furthermore, you have experience in dealing with abnormalities such as Black fire. And you should know that it took over one thousand pounds per square inch to smother the fire." Naruto told the team in front of him. "I would hate to risk a team of Genin so Gaara has decided to temporarily join your team in hopes to solve this mystery." Naruto pulled out a stamp and struck the paper in front of him. "Kakashi, if you will…"

Kakashi stepped towards the table and leaned over it. He whispered well enough for just the Seventh and Gaara to hear. "Only Sharingan users can create that fire, seeing as how you saw the death of the last three, the only person who can be responsible for this Black Fire is me. Are you two not suspicious?" Leaning on the table he tried to read either Gaara or Naruto. "I am sure Gaara will tell me your plan when we travel to his village."

Kakashi took the stamp and smashed it against the paper. "Mission accepted."

When Team Kakashi left the building Shikamaru immediately faced Naruto. "Ino went into your mind, she saw all three of the Sharingan users dying. Who could create this black fire?" Sitting back, going through his own thoughts and speculations. "I think Ino should have another look."

Naruto frowned and looked towards Ino. "I hope your peeking in my mind has no effect on either of us." Naruto gestured for Ino to come closer. She stood up and walked down the length of the room over to Naruto. "I think you can do this one more time right?"

"I'm not sure…" Ino placed her hands on Narutos forehead. Giving him a few moments to reason it out with the Kyuubi, she held back her Jutsu. The first time she tried to read his mind, it had failed because the Kyuubi wouldn't let another personality intervene, it took Naruto a full week to convince the Kyuubi.

"I'm sorry." Naruto said as he held his hands together, "It is safe now."

A slight focus was seen on Ino, and Naruto gained a dazed appearance. He was next to the Kyuubi, holding one hand on the Fox's nuzzle. Ino always had to walk through the Kyuubi's corridor before seeing Naruto's memories. She had only done it once, and the overwhelming evil had almost made her release the Jutsu. It created a heavy atmosphere that made everything unbearably close. This time, she noticed, that the evil was toned down, Naruto had probably noticed her stress inside the corridor and is using his Aura to counter the Kyuubi's.

"Boy, this is virtually rape." The Kyuubi boomed inside both Naruto's and Ino's minds. Naruto just chuckled as Ino flinched. "I haven't seen day light in too long." The Kyuubi frowned and got itself prepared to venture back in the Memories again. "I can almost remember the power!"

Ino first had to start with the beginning of Naruto's memory. She didn't bother to look at what she wasn't supposed to. She figured the Kyuubi would stop her if she didn't do what she was meant to do. She did catch glimpses of memories, but just as single images contributed with one feeling or another. When she came across what she was looking for, she muttered, "Uchiha One."

Naruto felt these experience's strange. He imagined Ino was walking through time in his head. When she said things to tell where she was at, he only heard an echo of what she said. "go on Ino." He imagined himself whispering. He hated reliving these memories, especially since he knew what type of Pain Ino was about to feel.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.--.-.-.-.-.-.-.--.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

"kukuku Naruto, I have saved you to see this." Orochimaru chuckled. Sasuke stood next to Orochimaru and smirked towards his childhood companions. "I wonder if Sakura would love me if I were Sasuke." Orochimaru pondered aloud.

Naruto had barely woken from a daze and had no idea Sakura was next time him, also chained down. His first reaction was to forced his way out of the chains. Each time he moved, he could hear Sakura whine in pain. They were somehow linked, but he wasn't quite sure how Orochimaru had done it. He then got ready to release Chakra and over power the chains completely, but it was being absorbed.

"You have failed Naruto, you couldn't bring me back." He imagined Sasuke saying. "Now look at where I am next to this fool, who will take my body and then kill Itachi, and you and Sakura." He imagined a younger Sasuke crying.

"Please don't." Naruto muttered as Orochimaru prepared his body for the shift. Sasuke glanced over and smirked. Again all Naruto could do was beg. _I have grown stronger then him_. Sasuke laughed and prepared himself to be entered.

Orochimaru unleashed a fury of hand seals, which Sasuke duplicated. Orochimaru wanted to make sure his synchronization with his container would be perfect. For a moment everything stood still and then Orochimaru fell over. At first Sasuke gripped his fists, but they still felt the same. Everything seemed the same. Orochimaru said that it would feel weird, but he felt exactly the same. He looked down at Orochimaru and saw inside that Orochimaru was dying. "…wh…whats happening…" Sasuke looked over towards his two prisoners. He blinked his eyes and looked at the world through Sharingan. He couldn't describe what he saw inside of Orochimaru at that point. The energy inside Orochimaru wasn't being drained. It was being eaten by something. He watched in horror as the past 5 years of his life amounted to nothing. His master was dead and all he could do was stare.

Naruto was looking directly at Sasuke and Sakura was looking for a way to escape. "IT WAS YOU TWO!" Sasuke screamed at them. "**Fucking die.**" Sasuke's aura changed as his eyes altered and seemed to no longer be a Sharingan eye. It wasn't a Magenkyo eye either. It was a different type of eye. Sasuke walked over to Sakura and kneeled down in front of her. "**Naruto, don't worry you will see her shortly.**" Sakura looked at Naruto through the corner of her eyes with a pleading look as Sasuke raised her chin with his hand. When she looked straight the Uchiha orbs met her gaze. With in a second, Sakura fell limp. Naruto just stared. He wasn't sure what happened. _Did he kill her? No… Sakura._ Pain went through Naruto and Ino. A sadness Ino never quite knew and Naruto barely experienced. It felt like their lungs were empty and that their hearts had just stopped. Then a weird voice whispered inside their ears. _**Its time, show this bastard what we can do**. _The voice was soothing in its sole intent to end the person who caused the pain. **_Let's kill him… watch you can feel it._**

Sasuke glanced over at Naruto. "**I can't kill Itachi…. This is your fault. I cannot avenge what I was supposed to. I will enjo…"**

"enjoy murdering you." Naruto's confusion became a grin. "I will show you real fear." Naruto's eyes first became red and shortly after Sasuke saw the chakra flowing from him. It was all being taken in by the chain. Naruto just kept glaring with insanity at Sasuke. Letting chakra fill the chains capacity. "it will reach a limit sometime." Sasuke scooted nearer to Naruto and laughed.

"These eyes can see everything, Naruto." He grinned and rummaged through Naruto's corridor to be encountered with a Kyuubi about to bite his head off inside. He quickly disappeared outside of it and watched Naruto. "**so I rattled your cage?**" Sasuke chuckled pulling out a kunai. "Don't worry Naruto, as I said you will see her soon, I will not curse you to live a second longer." Quickly going through hand seals, Sasuke built Chidori at the tip of the Kunai. An instant later, it was inside Narutos stomach. The chakra tore through his organs.

Ino had remembered this part from last time, it was numbing. There was no sense of anything. The pain had left and it felt like she was dead. It scared her the first time, she thought she had messed up and was somehow dead. _Any moment._ She started feeling again. Her eyesight regained and was staring at Uchiha Eyes. A growl uttered from the deep of her throat.

The chains were gone, and her nerves told her she was alive. Then another feeling came. Her nerves were melting. There was pain through out her entire body, but each time the pain came in a wave it was also replaced by a cool feeling of regeneration. For what seemed like an enternity, the Kyuubi released chakra into Naruto. Letting his energy course through the boy. The pain and regeneration came from the skin melting and regenerating through her body. The heat from the Kyuubi's chakra was enough to make Sasuke jump away. "again, relying on that Demon inside you. No wonder the villagers never liked you. You used the demon they hated."

Then suddenly, the pain stopped. She was no longer the one feeling the pain. Naruto wasn't feeling it either, but they were experiencing it. They were now inside watching what the Kyuubi was doing. Sasuke was scared for a moment, by the five tailed Kyuubi, but he saw his new eyes were stronger then his old eyes. _Maybe I can kill Itachi._ He dodged away from the Kyuubi's flaring attacks. When the Kyuubi charged again, Sasuke just stop and let the Chidori flow through his body. The Kyuubi smashed straight into the current and it let out a roar. Its five tails flailed as it walked around Sasuke. Ino heard Naruto telling the Kyuubi to let more go. Shortly after, the Kyuubi had grown six tails. That's when Sasuke realized he couldn't win. When the Sixth tail came out, Naruto tripled in size and his chakra was no longer human chakra. It created gravity that doused Sasuke's chakra. The Kyuubi dissolved Sasuke's current inside his own and just stared at the Uchiha. Before he could even make a response, the Kyuubi had his Chakra spinning around Sasuke leaving him trapped. He was inside of a high intensity Rasengan, imprisoned.

Ino forced herself to skip the next three hours of memories. She had watched through them before. The Kyuubi had just tortured Sasuke. The only way Naruto would gain his body back from the Six-tails was letting Kyuubi release its bloodlust. At the end, Sasuke was no longer one being. There was nothing of Sasuke left. The Kyuubi had thoroughly crumbled the boy leaving nothing.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.--.-.-.-.-.-------.-.-.-.-.


	3. Chapter 3

Shikamaru watched with abstract thoughts as he saw many features one would get from shock. It looked like both Naruto and Ino wanted to scream, but shock through their bodies didn't let them. Leaving both of them with mouths that were wide and then would slowly close. "this isn't a smart idea…" Chouji commented towards his friend. "She has been inside his mind before looking to be sure they were gone, why couldn't it just be the same?"

"I think we missed something, but maybe you are right. From the looks of it I think they just got passed Sasuke. You can snap her out of it if you want?" Shikamaru folded his hands together, "but do it soon before she goes deep into the memories. Waking up from that is a disorienting thing." Shikamaru thought for a moment. "Suppose we woke her up inside of a genjutsu? Do you think she would catch on.."

Chouji stared at Shikamaru with interest, "are we going to test it?" Chouji started with a single had seal and got ready to cast it on her.

"hold it, place it on Naruto, she is inside of him right now, you could hypnotize both of them at once." Shikamaru calmly got his Shadow ready to split them apart. "One… Two… Three…"

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.--.-.--.-.-.-.-.---.-.-.-.-.--.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

One minute Ino was looking at something she couldn't quite remember, and the next she was staring right at Shikamaru who seemed to have banded her with shadow. Chouji was standing next to her eating Barbeque chips. "Why did you wake me up?" Ino looked first at Chouji and then at the more probable cause.

"It looked to us that you both were in pain and desperate actions were needed." Shikamaru released the shadow bind and Chouji hit Ino in the back of the head.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Ino looked up at Shikamaru. "Was that an Illusion?" She had just been hit by Chouji and now suddenly she was back to having his Shadow pin her. "This is too confusing, stop screwing around."

Shikamaru let go of his bind, "we were just testing something." Naruto nodded from the corner of the room. "We were wondering if a person could sense genjutsu from waking up. You couldn't sense it, being as you are a regular person. Naruto sensed it and according to him, the Nine-Tails was whispering that it was fake, the world at least. I think because we couldn't cast a proper illusion on the Kyuubi. He woke himself from it while you continued on."

"They were testing to see if any of the Genjutsu that an Akatsuki or Sasuke could have done would create a elaborate enough illusion to make it seem like that they died." Naruto finished. "I really doubt they could figure out an illusion that could trick the Kyuubi though." Still the thought was haunting to Naruto. _What if I am still in the Genjutsu, still sitting in front of Orochimaru as he's laughing. Or if Sasuke and Sakura are still alive._ "Ino I am dispatching you to follow after Gaara and Kakashi, keep your presence unknown and only offer aid to them if it is necessary."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Kakashi looked out from the top of a pyramid. He was looking for any sort of camp site that could have been. According to the Kazekage, the Black flame had appeared at the base of this pyramid. Either, they went into the burial tombs and had came out or traveling from one place to another they crossed that side of the pyramid. He had to make sure that the person had moved on with in the 5 days.

Another question bothered him at the back of his mind. What inside of this Pyramid would any person want? Gaara had said this tomb was ancient and had been remodeled every century. It was built before the Ninja Wars towards a great leader who taught the people many things. To Kakashi, it sounded just like a shrine to a goddess. There could be nothing important in there to any particular bandit and ancestral belongings held little potent power. Gaara had told him that there was an entire library inside the pyramid holding many secrets the supposed deity had taught the people. The Library had already been catalogued and nothing seemed to be missing. It seemed like this Black Fire was just a stunt to get the Sand and Leaf villages to respond to something.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.--.-.-..-.-.-.--.---..--.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Kakashi's team, on the other hand, was busy not looking outside the pyramid, but on the inside. Any possible secret passage ways were being looked into. The Kazekage said there were no known secret traps. If there were any, they were covered up on the first excavations and the first remodeling of the pyramids. According to Yurino, the undeclared lead genin of Team Kakashi, or Team 7, the remodeling would make short work of their case, inside the pyramids at least. He reasoned that if they were stilling something it would be something really obvious, or they would have to destroy a section of the pyramid to enter into a secret cave.

Kakashi's idea was to have Gaara sense the sand inside the pyramid and try to get a details lay out of the inner chambers and hidden chambers as well. Unfortunately, whoever designed the tower was aware of the Shukaku and its ability to control sand. They had somehow made the pyramid out of fully "energized" sand, as Gaara called it. He controls and looks for sand by being able to push his chakra into it. The designer had every inner block covered in sand that if more energy was placed, then the object would release the same amount back. Meaning Gaara could receive a full outer chamber reading, but anything on the inside was not likely.

Kakashi claimed it was a fort to hold out against the beast. Gaara claimed the shukaku would have taken down the whole thing in a matter of seconds. Even if it couldn't easily sense what was inside it could still crumble it down to the ground. Gaara proposed that the Pyramid was made so that creatures that required sand to live couldn't invade the temple, worms and ants and the likes. Whichever it was, it didn't change that gaara couldn't get a blue print of the area.

"Man, why is this so boring?" Yurino whined to his fellow team members. He was the son of Ino. He looked very similar to his grand father except for his dark blue eyes, which came from his own father. His father had been a normal villager at the time the Akatsuki tried to take the Kyuubi by force. They had sent three people into the town and two others after the Kyuubi. The three inside the town tried to distract main Konoha forces by slaughtering villagers at random, something Zetsu enjoyed greatly until the Hyuuga captured him.

Due to the burden that the Akatsuki noticed in Naruto's growing power they had Itachi and Kisami directly assault the main Konoha temple where the Hokage reigned. Before she went to deal with the Akatsuki, she titled Jiraiya the Sixth Hokage. He quickly passed his title to Jiraiya and helped against the two rampaging Akatsuki. Kisami was beaten by Gamabunta, while Itachi had quickly taken down Tsunade's slug. With a stroke of luck Itachi had gotten both Jiraiya and Tsunade inside of the Kaleidoscope. He didn't know holding two people inside was possible. Iatchi quickly killed both of them inside his Magenkyo only to enrage a Kakashi and Naruto. Itachi was unaware of the power inside Kakashi's altered Magenkyo at first.

Kakashi had been thinking of strategies to counter Itachi's magenkyo and when the chance finally arrived, he almost knew exactly what to do. Itachi tried using his Magenkyo on the famed Hatake only to find himself warped around 2 miles in the sky. Taking large amounts of focus on his part he managed to push off enough chakra before his landing to have a safe one. Unfortunately for him, he landed with in 10 feet of an already crazed seven tailed Naruto. He met his end rather quickly at the hands of the seven-tails. When Itachi died, Kakashi had to exert the rest of his chakra to send the Kyuubi into forests where it would thrive for a few days on destroying animals. When Naruto finally came back, He was welcomed to being titled the seventh/eighth depending on which person. Some people say Jiraiya gave Kakashi the seventh and Kakashi gave Naruto the Eighth. Others said Jiraiya gave Kakashi the sixth which lead Naruto to the seventh. When in actuality, Jiraiya just told Kakashi "The fire in the people is yours to control now, I have more important matters." After enough time, Kakashi declared himself the Seventh leaving Naruto as the Eighth.

Yurino kicked one of the Pyramids walls resulting in the same thud as all the other walls. "you know Yurino, this is an S Rank Mission." Gaara calmly told the overactive boy. He had been hearing him complain for most of the morning and into the afternoon. Upon completely this mission, his standings would look phenomenal for the Chounin exam.

"Yeah yeah, but this feels worse then a D. At least with those we get to use shovels and not stare at cracks in the wall for 6 hours straight." The rest of team Kakashi didn't mind looking at the ancient architectures and artifacts. Even though the temple gave off an aura of Seclusion, it was rather peaceful.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-..-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.--.--.--.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

There was a place on the outskirts of the Rainbow village. A castle built in snow, which housed nine people. The castle was highly magnificent and very few even knew of it as a myth. Any person who could say they've seen the place has either became a servant under it or have died. The many corridors and kngiths rooms says it used to belong to a large city, until whatever caused the ice to rain down and cover all around it with a forever tundra.

"We have your temple activated now Shukara. They are on their way to activate Banji's castle right now, close by would be Macadrian's shrine." A tall man whispered into the ear of a woman in queen's fashion sitting on a queen's throne. "There will be only six until we finally get what we are after."

"What about the sand and leaf village? Do they suspect anything?" She whispered back to him in a low voice.

"We are activating shrines outside of their Allegiances now, they wouldn't suspect anything until it will be too late." The man placed a kiss on Shukara's cheek and lowered a hand down to her thigh where he caressed for a moment then with his other hand he clasped the women's wrist and started leading her up a flight of stairs to her chambers.


	4. Chapter 4

"You know there is a rumor…" the greasy looking bar tender said to no one in particular but also to the Raven haired man sitting on a stool down the length of the bar. Rinsing out the cup of water he heard the man listening to the rumor. "they say there are Uchiha still alive. You know those scary people, Black Hair and Black Eyes. They say the Uchiha are devils." When the rumor spread about the original Uchiha massacre, people questioned the sanity of each and every one of them. When they found out the last three actually turned around and attacked their home country, there was no doubt in their minds. Some even feared the Seventh going crazy and attacking Konoha.

"There is little to worry about here, this is far away from the lands of Konoha " The customer spoke up. "We are outside anybodies particular reign. Those monsters would have no sense in coming here." The bartender agreed, there was no reason someone would bother coming to the Island of the Hidden Bubble. Even thinking about the name, he decided whoever the feudal lord was, he was stupid. "…but, why do they think their alive?" the ear listened carefully.

"well, they say black flames are appearing all over the place. Four so far, One in the village of the sand. One deep in the heart of rock country, actually quite literally the heart, right smack down in the capital. Nobody has seen them, but the black fire is a tell tale sign of those fire users. I mean a fire that can't be put out? And when they do somehow put one out, when another appears they all reappear again." The bartender chuckled, if the Uchiha were hiding they wouldn't do something so obvious. "and then a couple of others in the Hidden Mist and Hidden Water. I think they are going planning something worse, worse then the Akatsuki that is." The man drinking his sake suddenly appeared to be calculating.

"Where did you say the fire was in the sand?" With sudden interest he seemed to be looking afraid. It seemed it all sounded familiar to him, like a legend or story he was told.

"well, now that I think about it, close to the Capital at one of the ancient Tombs." The man set down the mug. "What is it to you? Do you have any ideas?" Realizing that for the things to be so close to capitals, it seemed too coincidental.

"You are not as safe as you thought." The man stood up and quickly walked out of the bar. Another man came and sat at the stool where he left.

"What was that guy's problem?" The new customer happily chuckled. "I guess you scared him off with your rumor then?" The new customer seemed casually interested, but the Bartender had distant training as a detective. This man was unusually interested in the previous. Maybe that other guy was a criminal.

"Sorry, maybe I was too forward. I was just wondering what it was could get someone so calm to suddenly leave." The man grinned and stared at the bar tender. "so, could you tell me what it was?" Pulling some papers out of his pocket and laid it down on the counter. "please?"

The bartender casually reached for the money and slid it into his apron. "He acted strange when he found that there has been mysterious fires by some capital cities across the land. You may find him up at the temple at the beach, inside the rocks. Trying to douse his suspicions." _Actually,_ the bartender thought, _I might head up that way for the same reason_. "pretty well hidden temple, if it wasn't that everybody born here knew where it was."

"That is where it is." The man smiled, "Thank you." He stood up leaving behind a few strange gold topazes on the bar for the tender again. The orange haired man stepped outside the door and laughed.

"That was too easy."

"I imagine so, Yul. People in these small towns don't know how to keep their mouths shut when money comes their way." The raven haired man from earlier quickly walked towards the beach. "We have to activate the three after this very well planned. People will start paying attention when they realize its at all the temples. We should dispose of that bar tender soon also."

"Don't worry, I left him some gold beetles which undoubtedly are in his pocket. The heat ought to send them chewing into his thigh." Yul followed after. "I am more efficient then you thought."

-.-.-..-.-..-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-..-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

"…spies indicate that there was a black flame left in the Rock village." Shikamaru frowned. "If you draw a line from the Pyramids to the rock countries capital, and continue it further down you would hit another shrine far off the Rock country to its coast on the north eastern side. We should dispatch some people there to see if we can follow their movements. As of now, this is a guess we need to see if another shrine is activated to start seeing patterns." Shikamaru placed himself in a trance, with his hands placed together and starting letting the details compile in his mind.

_**-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.---.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.**_

**Authors note (_ This next section is just the way Shikamaru thinks, if anybody is wondering how this works just say so in a review I will explain in a later chapter.)_**

_**(You can skip this if you want, I placed an obvious break, it is not too long anyways)**_

_**-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.**_

_Konoha, there are 656 total Shrines and Temples across all the main land and islands off the coast_

_Hokage, 360 Shrines protected under government powers_

_Naruto, there are about 296 other shrines not protected by powers that be, but watched by monks and other villagers_

_Eighth Hokage, Of the 360 shrines there are derivations to approximately 112 group of deities including overlapped religion. Of 656 across the land there are about 186 recognized sects. _

_Kakashi, Of the 186, 178 of them overlap shrines the other 8 consist of one or two gods. One sect believes the Golem and the Sphinx once existed under allegiance and it would rain that way again. Temple do not coordinate with belief, _

_Seventh Hokage, Disqualify_

_Jiraiya, of 178 overlapping sects, one consists of 167 temples and shrines claiming to encompass all that there is, generalist belief, highest unlikelihood_

_Sixth Hokage, given that goal is to be accomplished in reasonable time, narrowed down to at most 17 gods, including division and not under certain detection 12 gods_

_Tsunade, narrowed down to 46 possibilities. For there to be a threat, approximately 4 shrines need to be unlocked_

_Fifth Hokage, 27 possibilities_

_Sarutobi, 27 possibilities_

_Third Hokage, 27 possibilities_

_Akimichi, 27 possibilities_

_Chouji, 27 possibilities_

_Yamanaka, Possible geographic courses, correlations to three possibilites. _

_Ino, One possibility, Five deity Sect, believed there was a group reigning during the time of beasts. One shrine in the pyramids another in the land of rock one at the Sea by rock country one at the eastern Konoha Beaches, and last shrine in hidden mist. Possible but unlikely_

_Temari, One Possibility, Five Deity, repeat of Ino, last two rather are both in hidden mist._

_Gaara, Final Possibility, Three Deity, Straight line through countries, highest probability. Should be looked into. No known reason of interest_

_Sand-Sound Alliance, send to third shrine._

_-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-._

_-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-._

_-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-._

Shikamaru left his thoughts and took a deep breathe. "Same advice, send three Genin teams, or three Jounin. Kakashi must go with and I should be there too."

Naruto nodded, he has learned better to doubt Shikamaru when he actually considers possibilities. "There is no known reason for any group to go through and light fires at these shrines though." Naruto gently rubbed the back of his head, for all he could tell was give these people more time and see if anything more noticeable happens. "So we shall dispatch You Kakashi and Neji. I have a feeling you three are the wisest choices, I will take care of things while you are away."

Shikamaru nodded, "Should we inform the Rock that we are coming?" If the culprits are in the rock village, this would be a bad idea, but if they were outside it would have little effect and would be good diplomacy.

Chouji spoke up in between bites of ramen, "I don't think we should let them know we have spies in their village. Besides if we discover any secrets it would be also wise to keep them to ourselves." Chouji continued eating as everyone let what he said sink in.

"Then it is agreed, Kakashi, Shikamaru, and Neji will be sent out then." Naruto finalized a document and had a bird sent towards Neji's housing at the old Uchiha mansion.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.--.-.-.-.-.-.-.--.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

The streets of this part of Konoha had been no different in the past 25 years. Eerie winds blew through silently at night, sending things slightly blowing. The bake shop had the same sale it always had with a sign that was never taken down. There were holes across certain walls, each one telling a tale that no one knew. If a person followed the holes or the blowing wind, they would arrive at a pond where the head council had lived. Very few people ventured far into the forgotten side of Konoha. Only children on a dare would take interest.

Inside a window overlooking the pond, a bird flew out with a note tied to its talons. It was blowing quickly away through the town square with the bake shop and away from a book store selling the brand new, very first, Icha Icha Paradise. The bird was on it's way to the Konoha temple as a letter carrier. In a few hours, at sunrise, the nation would be awake at the news of the morning would be Neji's departure.

Neji looked out the window. This morning would be interesting. This would be the first mission to be out on since Zetsu. He was wondering why he had been selected for this mission. It had to be because his extensive ability to understand Biju or maybe they just needed somebody with his eyes. He had nearly forgotten that he, His daughter, and Hanabi were the only Hyuuga to still be alive. He knew he lucked out in having a strong daughter. Before, he thought there would have been some sort of defect in her, but at birth it seemed pretty safe to assume she would be fine. She had the characteristic white eyes and it appeared nothing of the Seven-tailed Kaku. It was unfortunate that he couldn't know for sure. He knew that the tailed beasts don't leave effects until active chakra molding takes place. He was the only one who knew about it and it would be with tons of other research papers to be released upon his death.

Neji found it mind boggling that Naruto hadn't died. It took him quite a long amount of time to come up with a Chakra-Body Theory. First he said, the body has a set amount of energy to use through all of time. Or rather, that a person has unlimited potential, but their bodies can only take so much chakra burn. A Biju also follows this theory he claimed, but their bodies were adapted to deal with high chakra burn. He couldn't understand how Naruto could deal with the strongest of the Nine-Tailed beasts. He came up with a special factor in his theory just to make more sense out of it. If a person had a Biju inside, then their Chakra actually becomes the total burn while the Biju is the actual body taking the damage. Not that it mattered too much anyways, he just wanted answers to why things happened the way they did. These theories were just ways of getting a solution.


End file.
